The Blue Spirit
by Spidermanismyhero
Summary: Zuko was banished by Ozai, Iroh was not allowed to come with Zuko. Zuko hates his dad and inflicts his own piece of Justice by being the Blue Spirit on not only the Fire Nation, but anyone who treated others unjustly. Zuko discovers that the Avatar has been captured by Zhao. Zuko knows the Avatar is worlds last hope so goes to save him. bad summary. reviews are welcome! ON HOLD
1. The Rescue

The fortress would look menacing and downright terrifying to the common person. Its huge walls made of solid brick were impossible to break through. The enormous gates would impale through your flesh without mercy if you were to attempt escape, if you even got that far. You would first have to pass the ruthless guards who would not hesitate to kill you, and don't forget the infamous Yu Yang Archers who were famous for their silence and their deadly shot. You wouldn't stand a chance against them. Many people were terrified of the man who ran this ominous building. Admiral Zhao. He was a cold hearted killer, nothing but a sick man who cared nothing for the sake of innocent people's lives and abuses his power for purely his own benefit… and to get on the good side of the Fire Lord.

None of this information would have fazed a particular man, he had been face to face with Zhao many times before and didn't think he was scary in the slightest. The mysterious masked man crouched behind the bush before the clearing that surrounded the fortress. He did not care for the guards, they could be taken out easily. The Archers would be annoying but nothing he couldn't handle. What he was focused on was what, or rather who, was inside the building. He sunk further behind the bush as a horse carriage gently pulled the cart along the gravel road that ran straight to the prison. Let the Blue Spirit's plan begin.

The spirit slowly moved his way towards the carriage, its rider unaware. He waited until the carriage had moved a bit further on and pounced. The carriage rolled up to a stop at the entrance of the building. Stopped by a guard to do a standard check of the cart to make sure no one was hiding inside. The Spirit wasted no time, he hung underneath the cart as the guard looked inside. Apparently seeing nothing the spirit watched the boots of the guard walk around the side. He crawled along the cart and silently climbed into the back of the cart without been noticed.

"All clear!" The guard yelled.

The cart rolled into the yard and the man with the mask slipped out of the cart and hid.

…OooO…

A young boy, couldn't be older than 12 was chained up, he looked angry and exhausted. Zhao smirked at his prisoner.

"So this is the great Avatar? Master of all the elements. I don't know how you've managed to elude the Fire Nation for a hundred years, but your little game of hide and seek is over". Zhao said, sounding disgustingly pleased with himself.

"I've never hidden from you. Untie me and I'll fight you right now!" the boy, who was indeed the avatar yelled.

"Uhh, no. Tell me, how does it feel to be the only airbender left?" Zhao moved up close to Aang's face.

"Do you miss your people?" At this the boy hung his head in shame.

"Oh, don't worry, you won't be killed like they were. You see, if you die you'll just be reborn and the Fire Nation will have to being its search for the Avatar all over again. So, I'll keep you alive – but just barely". Zhao smirked at the avatar's anger and hatred and walked out triumphantly.

Aang let out a blow of air that smacked Zhao into a wall.

"Blow all the wind you want" Zhao replied with an eerie calmness

"Your situation is futile. There is no escaping this fortress – and no one is coming to rescue you" Zhao walked out locking the door behind him.

The last sentence hit Aang like a tonne of bricks. 'And no one is here to rescue you' it repeated in his head over and over again. Admiral Zhao was right. Katara and Sokka were in no fit state to come and rescue him. The only reason he had left the safety of their cave was to get some medicine for his sick friends. Speaking of medicine… Aang let out a yelp as a frozen frog leapt out of his shirt and landed on the cold cement floor with a soft thud. The frog was only half thawed and could only push itself along with one scrawny leg.

"What? No! Don't leave frogs! My friends are sick and they need you! Please go back to being frozen!" He yelled desperately as he struggled against the chains.

"I've failed" the Avatar slumped in defeat.

He had failed the world. Fire Lord Ozai would use Sozin's comet to burn every plant, animal and innocent person to the ground.

…He had failed.

The door flung open.

Aang's head snapped up in surprise. A man stood there dressed in black from head to toe, he had Dual Dao swords strapped to his back, but the thing that Aang was more focused on was what this man was wearing. It was a blue and white mask with white rims around the eyes, white fangs with teeth that curved upwards into a nothing less than terrifying smile. The Blue Spirit.

The Spirit unsheathed his swords and approached the Avatar. Aang couldn't hold back a scream of terror as the spirit swung this swords. The fatal blow Aang was expecting though, didn't come. The airbender looked at the intruder in complete and utter confusion. The man had sliced cleanly through the metal bindings that had once restrained him.

"Are you here to rescue me?" Aang asked curiously.

The masked figure didn't answer. He opened the door and gestured for the Avatar to follow him.

"I'll take that as a yes" mumbled Aang after finding no better plan (plans weren't his strong point, he usually left that stuff to Sokka). He followed the mysterious masked man.


	2. The Blue Spirit meets the Gaang

_Alright guys next chapter is up!_

_If anyone has any ideas on how I should continue please let me know, I have a rough idea but ideas are welcome! _

_Hope you enjoy_

The Blue Spirit backed away slowly. His plan was stupid and there were so many ways this could go wrong. His swords were around the Avatar's neck. He knew Zhao wanted the Avatar alive so if he made it look like he would kill the Avatar, then hopefully Zhao would let them out.

"Let them go!" Zhao yelled. He was seething!

Yes his plan was working! The monstrous gates groaned as they were opened. The spirit slowly began to walk backwards. The Avatar was tense, he obviously didn't see that this was only a strategy to escape and the spirit had absolutely no intention of hurting or killing the young Avatar. That would make all of his efforts in weakening the Fire Nation fruitless. The Avatar gave the Spirit hope, hope that maybe it wasn't too late for the world to be united once again, all four nations living together, and hopefully one day the Fire Lord can be finally taken down. But something ate away at the spirit. The Avatar is master of all four elements, so why had the Avatar only bended air during their escape? This information confused the Spirit.

He was brought out of his thinking when he heard the 'thwip' of what would have to be an arrow. Then the pain as the arrow tore through his flesh without mercy and stopped halfway through his shoulder. He lost his balance and almost fell over. The pain was horrible, but nothing he couldn't handle. The Blue Spirit could hear the guards approaching with a quickness he didn't know they possessed. The Spirit hauled himself off the ground. With his swords in one hand he grabbed the collar of the dazed Avatar and as quickly as he could, dragged them into the forest.

…OooO…

Aang was shocked, scared and confused all at the same time. This man hadn't wanted to kill him, he understood that now. What he didn't understand was why a complete stranger would risk his life for him. But the more pressing matter at hand was the arrow imbedded in his saviours' shoulder. The man's shoulder was now a mess, the blood dribbled down his shoulder at an alarming rate. The whole thing looked so painful. The Spirit's silence was what unnerved him the most. Aang would have screamed the place down or would have passed out. You couldn't really tell how much pain the Spirit was experiencing with that mask on. He was slumped up against a tree. But you could see the man move occasionally.

"Ummm, are you okay?" Aang asked, feeling like he was the reason the man was in the state he was.

The man nodded slowly.

"My friends are camping out in a cave not too far from here. I could take you there and then my friends could help you" Aang said since he didn't want to leave him here. Aang felt like he owed the Spirit, and Aang had no clue what to do in a situation like this. He was hoping Sokka and Katara would know what to do… after they sucked on their frozen frogs of course.

"Thanks" The man behind the mask mumbled.

This caught Aang off guard. The man had not uttered a word despite his injury until now.

Aang pulled the man off the ground and draped the spirit's good arm over his shoulder.

…OooO…

Walking was difficult, the Blue spirit was not only injured but he was at least a head and a half taller than Aang.

Eventually the pair made it back to the cave and stopped to get the frozen frogs. After catching the spirit's questioning gaze he explained that his friends were sick and a crazy old healer had told him these would cure his friends. The man seemed to except that answer and they continued on.

Aang helped his new friend sit down and walked over to Katara and Sokka. He shoved the frogs into their mouths. Aang was surprised how fast the cure worked, his friends were becoming more coherent by the second.

"So who's your new friend Aang?" Sokka, still not entirely with it, asked.

"Oh I almost forgot!" Aang cried as he ran over to the masked man.

"He's hurt, real bad and I brought him back here so we could help him. He saved my life!"

Sokka seemed to realise what he was sucking on and spat the frog out in disgust. The warrior began to make exaggerated gaging noises until Katara snapped out of her daze and the caring, mother hen side came out in full force as she saw the masked man on the floor.

"Oh my goodness, are you okay? Well, clearly you're not! Let me and Sokka help you!" Katara had managed to say all in one breath and the Blue Spirit stared blankly.

"So Spirit guy what can we call you?" Sokka asked as he made his way over.

The man tapped his mask

"The Blue Spirit?"

He nodded.

"…That's not your real name is it?" Aang asked slowly

The Blue Spirit shook his head as a no.

"We've seen you on Fire Nation Wanted posters, you have really helped in weakening the Fire Nation, I think what you've done has put everyone at an advantage, thankyou" Katara said sounding completely in awe. Like a lot of girls, the quiet mysterious guys always intrigued her.

"When I heard the Avatar had been captured I had to do something, you are the world's last and only hope" The Spirit said.

Sokka and Katara stared back in shock for two reasons. First, wow, he just talked! Katara was beginning to think he couldn't and secondly, Aang was captured?!

Katara turned to Aang. "YOU WERE CAPTURED?!"

"Yes but I'm alright and I wasn't hurt" Aang said nervously "However he is not" Aang gestured frantically to the Blue Spirit.

"Oh my god, yes, I completely forgot!" Katara said frantically. "You're handling this very well".

The Spirit just shrugged his good shoulder like this was nothing.

Sokka flinched 'what has this guy been through?' he thought.

Katara pulled out a knife she had with her and began to carefully cut off the sharp end that had sliced through his flesh.

"I'm going to have to pull it out now" she said eyeing their new friend, waiting for his reaction. The Blue Spirit nodded in confirmation.

"Okay, this is going to hurt" the Waterbender said quietly as she slowly began to remove the arrow. It was a painfully slow process that even made the masked man flinch once or twice.

"It's out!" Katara practically yelled as she held up the arrow triumphantly. "We have to bandage it now, the painful part is over."

The Blue Spirit visibly relaxed.

…OooO…

"We should ask him if he wants to join our group" Sokka said, his expression unusually serious.

It had been a good 15 minutes since the Blue Spirit had left, claiming he couldn't stay but would come back to visit after Sokka, Katara and Aang had nagged him.

"He would be a great ally to have, he obviously knows how to fight, he clearly hates the fire nation judging by who he's attacked and he could teach us some hand to hand combat. We would be at such an advantage and we need all the help we can get." Sokka continued.

"Yeah Sokka's right, he would be able to help us a lot! And we know we can trust him, he saved my life after all." Aang said, all his cheeriness back in full swing.

Katara frowned "Are we sure he'll even want to come with us? It's a pretty big ask…."join us with the Avatar and be chased down by psychotic princesses and vicious fire nation soldiers while Aang learns all four elements and takes down the Fire Lord!" She didn't want to drag the mysterious man into something he didn't want to do.

"…Well it's worth a try isn't it?" Aang said sounding hopeful.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask" Katara said, still not completely convinced.

"Well I'm glad we all agreed!" Sokka said as he stood up. "He said he'd come back tomorrow so we should get some rest and wait until then!"

Secretly, Sokka was really excited about this guy. Sure Aang is a guy but the kid's only 12, so he was hoping for some real manly bonding time over meat and sarcasm… but he never voiced this to anyone, no way.

He laid down in his sleeping back and prayed that the Blue Spirit would come back and would join this very weird group of misfits. Maybe he might even find out who the mysterious man under the mask really is.

The Warrior's thoughts continued for a while before he finally fell into a deep sleep, hoping tomorrow would just hurry up already.

_To be continued _

_Hope you enjoyed this chapter _


	3. Identities Revealed

Hey, chapter 3 is up!

I'm thinking about bringing in the painted lady later in the story.

What do you guys think?

The ruler of the entire Fire Nation sat at his throne, looking over his council members with disapproval. They lacked creativity. He didn't want to just burn everything to the ground. That got boring after a while. He wanted to make sure the pathetic excuse for human beings knew who ruled over them, who made the decisions and that they no longer had a say in what they did with their lives. He wanted to strike _fear_ into their hearts. After all that is the only way you can control people.

That is why he called in his daughter, Azula, his firebending prodigy and his pride and joy. His daughter had a wonderful mind, always scheming new ways to inflict pain into the world. She was the only one capable of this particular task.

Capturing the Avatar and killing the Blue Spirit.

They had both caused a lot of annoying anguish for Fire Lord Ozai and he was losing his patience. He had received news that the Avatar had been captured by Admiral Zhao. The Fire Lord was… pleased. His pleasure was ruined, however, when he received news that one man had single-handidly freed the Avatar from Admiral's Zhao's clutches. Fire Lord Ozai was furious. One man. One man had freed the Avatar from a high security fortress. Zhao was pathetic, but he would deal with him later. He was even more furious when he found out who this one man was, the Blue Spirit.

Ozai set several curtains on fire.

This 'Blue Spirit' had caused a lot of trouble. He had destroyed so many of his holds on weak villages and wrecked a lot of his fire nation army outposts. The Fire Lord wanted this man to go down. He didn't care who he was, he just wanted to get rid of this nuisance.

He knew Azula could do this. She wasn't a failure, unlike her sad excuse of a brother. He didn't even know where the banished Prince was.

'Probably dead, he was always pathetically weak' Ozai decided.

"Are you ready Azula?" Ozai asked his daughter after he dismissed his council members, he only looked to them for new, exiting ideas. But so far they had proven useless. Unlike his daughter.

"I will not fail you father" Azula replied, bowing.

"I know you won't. You leave tomorrow morning." Ozai said, his voice betraying no emotion.

…OooO…

Zuko stirred slowly from his sleep. The cool breeze floated gently in through the open window which he came in through late last night, too exhausted to close it. He sat up in his 'bed' which really was just some hay in a stranger's barn. It was a small barn. It had one door which was locked and one small window.

The house lay empty, slowly falling apart. He had gone into the house at first, to try and find an actual bed for once, but quickly decided against it after seeing the decayed remains of its owners. A man, a woman and a child. Murdered by Firebenders. It made him feel like he was going to be sick. The smell wasn't any better.

The soft whistling of wind that swept through the house made the whole thing a little too creepy. Not to mention the strange silence that surrounded the small town of probably only 10 houses. He figured they all had the same fate. He couldn't leave and try to find another town. He was too tired. Then he saw the barn and decided to stay there just for one night. No one would notice him since it was abandoned. Normally he would have considered to stay longer but the decaying, burnt bodies were imbedded in his mind and frankly he didn't want to stay any longer that he needed to. The Vigilante stretched his tired muscles - well as much as he could considering what happened last night.

Zuko decided he was going to go back and visit them. The bunch of kids made him feel wanted. They _wanted_ him to come back. Unlike his father. Banishing him just for standing up to something that was wrong. He remembers telling his father this war was pointless. Not that any of that mattered. He was living proof of what happened when you stood up to the Fire Lord. You got half your face burnt off while the rest of the Nation laughed in your face. His hand reached up to the scar that would forever remind him of his father. No, he didn't even deserve that title anymore. He was a monster.

Doubt plagued his mind. What if they lost trust in him if they found out he was fire nation _and_ a firebender? Maybe he could prove himself to them, he was prepared to do that. He wanted to help the avatar, he wanted to take down his father, and he wanted someone to care.

The ex-prince of the Fire Nation stood up and placed the Blue Spirit mask around his face.

He was not going back on his word.

…OooO…

"What if he doesn't show up?!" Aang said pacing back and forth.

"He will Aang, would you please stop stressing" Sokka said sounding like was trying to convince himself more than Aang but even he was having his doubts.

"Oh come on you two, he will come." Katara said while making their breakfast of a variety of nuts and fruit. "But we should eat now, while we wait and who knows, he might be hungry"

Just as Katara finished the sentence the masked man dropped down from the roof of the cave and landed in a crouch.

Aang jumped out of his skin with a horrified look on his face but realised who it was.

"YOU CAME!" The Avatar yelled and tackled the man in a hug.

The Blue Spirit seemed taken aback by the gesture and slowly returned the hug.

"Would you like something to eat?" Katara asked politely. She was thinking about how she could approach the man about joining their group.

"Yes please" The Blue spirit replied. He sat down as Katara passed him a bowl with fruit and nuts.

"So I was thinking." Sokka began.

"Aang will have to face the Fire Lord eventually and you know there's only three of us so our odds aren't so great and an extra hand would help us so much". Sokka paused.

"So, what do you say? Would you like to join our group?"

The Blue Spirit looked at Sokka.

"It would be an honour but I can't join your group without revealing my identity" The Blue Spirit said, picking his words carefully.

"I don't want to put you in any more danger than you need."

"You don't have to tell us anything you don't want to. I get the whole 'the less you know the safer you are' thing so it's cool to use a fake name or something" Sokka said casually.

"And we have _the Avatar_ in our group, so don't feel like you're putting us in danger, but I won't force you to do something you don't want to do." Aang added, feeling hopeful.

"You could help us take down the fire lord for good and then he won't be able to hurt anymore innocent people." Katara said sounding sincere but there was a hint of desperation to her voice.

The Blue Spirit considered his options. If he didn't join their group and they went their separate ways, it is possible that the Avatar might be captured again, they might never even make it to the Fire Nation before they are killed. If he joins their group and doesn't reveal his identity, they would definitely find out sooner or later… when they did would they not trust him? Being ex-Fire Nation is one thing but being ex-Crown Prince of the Fire Nation is another thing completely. If he joined their group and came out with his true identity, it would lift a weight off the spirit's shoulders. Finally being able to tell someone about his alter ego would be a relief. It would be great to have some backup once in a while as well and maybe come out of some fights with a few less scratches.

"It's not pretty" The Blue spirit says quietly, looking down.

"What isn't?" Aang and Sokka asked simultaneously.

"Underneath… I have a… rather large scar."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, we are not known to judge." Katara said softly, she was now sitting next the Blue Spirit and she could feel the waves of pain coming off him.

"A friend of my dad's, his name is Bato." Sokka began, hoping his story would lighten the man's mood. "His entire arm and chest was badly burnt, it was still wrapped in bandages last time we saw him."

After a seconds hesitation the Blue Spirit removed his mask.

Underneath was nothing more than a teenager, around Sokka's age. His skin was pale and he had the most intense golden eyes and shaggy jet black hair. A large scar covered the left side of his face. It covered his eye leaving it in a permanent squint, it reached above his eye brow to his ear and down to just above his cheek bone. In other words it looked excruciatingly painful.

"My name is Zuko, I am the ex-prince of the Fire Nation." Zuko said, he looked ashamed to be Fire Nation.

Katara stared wide eyed and mouth open before gathering herself up. "You are the last person I expected to be under that mask!" The waterbender tackled Zuko in a hug.

"The Fire Lord's son is on our side! This puts us at more of an advantage than originally thought!" Sokka added and joined in Katara and Sokka's hug.

"I LOVE GROUP HUGS!" the 12 year old Avatar yelled.

One things for certain Zuko did not think they would react like this, with such happiness. He wondered to himself where he would end up from here.

Inside Zuko knew this was the best decision of his life.

Hope you enjoyed it so far!


	4. The Painted Lady

_Hey! sorry I haven't updated in a while I literally wrote this in one sitting! _

Four teenagers sat around a roaring campfire. Their campsite was in the dense green forests of the Earth Kingdom, nothing Katara and Sokka had ever seen before. They had found a small clearing and immediately set up camp. The grass was lush and green and the forest had plenty of life in amongst it, much too meat-craving Sokka's joy.

These kids weren't ordinary kids though; how often do you see a Waterbender, the ex-prince of the Fire Nation who is a Firebender, a non-bender, Water Tribe warrior and the Avatar sitting together eating their dinner and sharing ghost stories?

"So Zuko's a Firebender, Katara's a Waterbender, it took you 112 years to master air" Sokka began but got vicious glares from both Katara and Zuko at the last comment.

"So all we have to find for you is an Earthbending teacher!" Sokka finished, not noticing his friends glares.

"But where are we going to find someone willing enough to teach me?" Aang asked, trying to pretend he never heard what Sokka said.

"I don't think you should worry about that right now, you still need to work on your Waterbending and maybe you should start on the basics of Firebending" Katara said gently.

"y-yeah I guess you're right" The Avatar replied shakily.

Sokka yawned ridiculously "Anyway…" the warrior droned out.

"We need to enjoy our young lives as we know it, not let the angry jerk that is Zuko's dad, no offence Zuko" Sokka added

"None taken" Zuko replied honestly, he had plenty of harsher insults up his sleeve when the time came.

"Make our lives hell" Sokka finished.

"Sokka is right, we should enjoy what we have" Aang added, although he didn't sound sure of this at all, obviously the burden of being the Avatar was weighing heavily on the young monk's shoulders.

"But this does not mean we should let our guard down, you never know who's listening" The Firebender said, eyeing his new friends.

"I wouldn't worry" Sokka said casually throwing his arms behind his head.

"Those Fire Nation pussies don't stand a chance against us"

Zuko didn't seem convinced but didn't comment

Zuko looked curiously over at the Waterbender he had come to know quite well over the past couple of weeks he had been with them. She had been unusually quiet during the last couple of hours and he wanted to approach her about it but he didn't want to say anything in front of Aang or Sokka. Zuko thought he knew what was bothering her, they had flown (on Appa who seemed to really take a liking to Zuko) over a village. It was small and disturbingly quiet, the quiet however was broken by a scream- no a wail of pure, gut wrenching agony. Zuko could tell by the look on Katara's face she wanted to help, he did as well. That was the purpose of the Blue Spirit after all. Sokka's schedule was so tightly packed it was ridiculous and Zuko wanted to rip it out of his hands and wack him over the head with it. He restrained himself, it wouldn't make the situation any better.

The Prince was forming a plan. In fact the plan was happening right now.

No one had noticed but he had made sure that their campfire wood would burn out quickly. He had been controlling the fire by breathing in and out and burning out the wood faster than it would have on its own.

"I'm going to find some more wood for the fire" Zuko said in his usual voice that no one dared question or would go against but yet, that the group had come strangely accustomed to.

"Sure, okay" Aang grunted out from his fierce paper scissors rock game with Sokka.

Zuko gave Katara a look. Her eyes lit up and she jumped up mumbling something about helping Zuko find firewood.

…OooO…

The princess and rightful heir to the throne grabbed the throat of the pathetic piece of uselessness that this earth kingdom woman was. She had not given her the information that she had come all this way for.

"Where. Is. The. Avatar." Azula asked pacing out each word slowly as if she was talking to a child.

"I-I don't know he hasn't come through here" The woman was physically shaking with fear now, just how Azula liked it. She liked to make sure they knew she could kill them in a heartbeat.

"What about the vigilante known as the Blue Spirit?" Azula's voice was low and threatening.

Azula looked deep into the woman's face. She wasn't lying. Well she wasn't any use now.

Azula fed her hand the blue, elegant, power-hungry flame it craved so much. The woman let out a scream that would make the normal person want to vomit at the absolute horror in her voice.

Azula only smirked.

…OooO…

Zuko absentmindedly bent down to pick up another piece of wood.

"So is it what we saw-well heard at that village this morning that's been bothering you so much?"

Katara looked at him seriously "Zuko it sounded as if someone was seriously hurt and flying right past honestly killed me"

"Yeah, this is kind of why I…" Zuko paused making sure no one was around. He leaned in closer to Katara to finish his sentence "…put on the mask, you could say"

Katara stared back at him with a determined glint in her eye

"Maybe the Blue Spirit would like a partner in crime?"

"…What do you mean?"

The Fire and Waterbender had not gotten far in their journey when Zuko brought up the subject. Small furry animals approached the edge of the overgrown, under worn path curiously. The small delicate dragonflies danced among the wind with the gracefulness of a well-practiced dance. Squirrel-toads hopped across the path, their bushy tails leaving a fuzzy path behind them. The area was indeed beautiful. This went unnoticed by the Prince and the Peasant. All of the firewood they had collected had now been discarded as the two teens formulated a plan of pure brilliance.

"A Partner!" Katara already knew which spirit mask she'd be wearing, a childhood favourite that her mother used to tell her stories about all the time. She never got tired of those stories.

"I don't know…"

"Oh come on, I know you want a partner."

"It-it's just I don't want you to get hurt or anything."

Zuko blushed. He wasn't good with this sort of stuff.

"Fine" the Fire bender replied in his usual rough voice that Katara found quite attractive. She also began to blush at the thought.

"Well it's just past lunch" Katara said noting the sun

"Shall we go tonight?" She asked as sweetly as she possibly could.

"Midnight, after Sokka and Aang are asleep, if either of those two find out, they are going to get very overprotective of you" Zuko said beginning to pick up the sticks again

"This is going to be great" The Waterbender yelled attacking the other in a hug causing him to drop all of the firewood. He returned the hug with a little more ease than when he had first met them.

"The Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady" Katara said a wide grin on her face.

"They don't stand a chance"

_So the Painted Lady and the Blue Spirit are in the story those two are just epic! _


	5. Princess Azula

CHAPTER 5: PRINCESS AZULA

If you blinked, you would have missed it.

A streak of black, slipping past the clustered houses as silent as a ghost.

The Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady were looking for something-well, someone. The scream they had heard an hour ago would not let up and was replaying itself in Zuko's head. Which was weird, as being the Blue Spirit he had heard plenty of people scream. He had made those monsters that murder innocent people, scream but this was different. This scream was of terror. Terror at its purest, rawest form and he did not like the sound of it. He felt sorry for whoever was the source of the agonising scream. Zuko was known to show mercy, the Blue Spirit however, was not.

The Blue Spirit jumped out the window of one of the homes. He searched with a gracefulness that ballerinas would envy.

He seemed to have come across a ridiculous amount of deserted towns lately. He didn't even know there were so many towns abandoned like this. This one was a little different though, everything was in place like they had all just stood up one day and decided to leave. Although in a hurry, there were little signs of struggle but he could tell these people were forced to leave. Blue clenched his fist. The Blue Spirit had also found a full cup of Ginseng tea, it was even still a bit warm. He stared blankly in the cup. In all his three years of being the Blue Spirit he had never seen something quite as… eerie and frustrating as this. He couldn't find answers and it was beginning to anger him.

The Spirit stooped in his tracks, crouched just below the window sill. Someone else was here, in that house. He could tell it wasn't his comrade, the Painted Lady, she was on the other side of the village. The Blue Spirit smiled, he had found his mystery man… or woman.

…OooO…

Azula pleasantly made herself at home. She had seen the Avatar's flying bison and she knew they had heard that woman's scream. They would be back, there was no way they could ignore a gut retching scream like that. Azula had only killed a few people and after that everyone ran away screaming, leaving this small town all to herself. Azula knew patience was a virtue, and sure enough it definitely paid off. The Blue Spirit had shown his face and someone else whom she did not recognise.

'Great' she thought 'someone else to kill'. She sighed inwardly to herself. She supposed it would not be too bad having to murder anyone else, she would not kill them yet, she wanted to first see how much of a threat they were, unmask the Blue Spirit and 'ask' him where the Avatar was.

Azula stood up and made her way into the next house that the Blue Spirit had snuck into. He made no noise when he walked and Azula marvelled at it. She had never been very good at stealth.

"Looking for me?" she yelled. Sneaking around was getting old, and she was thirsty for action.

...OooO…

Katara was excited, to say the least. Being away from Sokka and Aang had made her feel free, they were constantly worried about her but Zuko believed in her abilities and understood that she didn't need to be babied and could hold her own against the enemy. She was even more exited and relieved when Zuko suggested they search a different part of the town each. She realised he did believe in her abilities. She also felt she needed to prove that to him.

So far in their search, much to the Painted Lady's disappointment she had found nothing. Absolutely nothing. No people, no animals, nothing. It made her head swirl with questions. The graceful spirit kneeled down next to a child's cot. The blankets had been thrown back onto the floor as if the child's mother had ripped back the covers and pulled the child out in such a hurry she had not noticed the blankets. The Painted Lady remembered the broken tea cup in the kitchen along with the broken door. The spirit sighed, she was getting nowhere with this. She decided to head back to the Blue Spirit.

…OooO…

The Blue Spirit gestured for the Painted Lady to crouch next to him just outside the old building he had been crouching behind when he realised they were not alone. The Painted Lady had decided to come back to him after finding nothing and for that he was grateful. He had wanted to get the young spirit's attention but couldn't without giving away his position.

"Looking for me?" Their unknown enemy yelled clearly frustrated.

"I say we give this enemy what she wants" The Blue Spirit said, anger lacing his voice. "Remember the plan?"

The two spirits had made a plan prior to their arrival.

"Of course! Remember don't be afraid to use you Firebending, the blue spirit is known to control fire" Katara reminded Zuko softly.

"Same to you with you Waterbending" Zuko added.

The two shared a nod and leapt inside the window to face their opponent.

…OooO…

Zuko felt ashamed.

His sister. Azula was the reason for the complete desolation of this perfectly innocent and rather beautiful town. She was the cause of the death that radiated off the town in waves. A member of his own family. He was embarrassed to say he was related. All this destruction and the unnecessary deaths for no good, relevant reason. He snapped out of it when he realised that this was _Azula, _not any normal Firebending bandit but _Azula. _She was always so horrible and violent even when they were kids, now she was worse, a lot worse. Not that Zuko cared though. The Blue spirit was prepared to take on anyone, even his sister. It's kind of sad how he doesn't actually give a damn about Azula anymore, he used to when she was just a toddler but now he could see a miniature version of his father sprouting. Great, another Ozai, just what the world needs.

The Blue Spirit dodged the third graceful but deadly fire blast and retaliated with his own along with a powerful water whip the Painted Lady made from the nearby well. The two benders had been at this for a while now and surprisingly Azula wasn't really trying. He knew what she could do and she was definitely holding back, as he was and the Painted Lady, but still it was weird and really unnerving.

Zuko unsheathed his Dual Dao swords and closed the gap between himself and the Princess. He cornered her, crossed his swords over and slammed them into the wall across Azula's neck. The blade was a mere inch away from her throat. The Painted Lady came and stood next to him. The Dynamic Duo looked like everyone's worst nightmare. As the sun was going down the soft glow of the sun shone against their masks and made them look ten times more horrifying than they actually were which they both thought was quite appropriate. The Painted Lady stepped forward, the top half of her face hidden by the hat.

"What do you want?" She asked in a tone that would make the everyday person wet themselves in fear.

"I could ask you the same thing" The Fire Nation Princess replied.

Katara narrowed her gaze while the Blue Spirit moved his swords so they were now scraping against Azula's neck just enough to draw blood.

"We have plenty of time" The Painted Lady replied, her voice annoyingly calm.

"I was sent to kill you" Azula informed the two spirits. A smile spreading across her face. She might as well tell them since she's going to kill them either way.

"Who sent you?" The Blue spirit leaned in dangerously close to Azula's face.

"The Fire Lord" The Princess said rather smugly.

Azula diverted the conversation. "A Waterbender and a Firebender" Azula said. "Never thought I would see this, let alone a Firebender, betraying his own country, you should be ashamed of yourself and a pathetic Waterbending peasant." Azula spat the words out like she had poison in her mouth.

"What are you doing so far away from home little one?" She added mockingly.

The Blue Spirit had apparently had enough and ripped out one of his Dual Dao swords and wacked his crazed sister over the head with it. She fell to the ground unconscious.

"Do you remember when I told you I was the ex-prince?" The Blue Spirit said slowly, never taking his eyes off the Princess's form.

"Yes… are you okay?" She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Azula is the Princess of the Fire Nation, my sister is trying to kill us"

"Well, I wouldn't worry, she doesn't seem to pose much of a threat" The Painted Lady tried to comfort him.

"We would still be fighting if she wanted us dead, she was working out how much of a threat we are, and we need to leave here as soon as possible. Azula will be back and she won't be alone" The Blue Spirit tore his gaze away from his power obsessed sister and he grabbed the Painted Lady's wrist and pulled her out of the house.

The Painted Lady didn't really know what to say, but let the masked man pull her along. After all when in doubt follow the mysterious masked man! (A/N Reference to Lily Umbra's comment! Loved it!)

…OooO…

Sokka frowned and glanced at the sky again for the fifth time that minute. A couple of hours ago Katara and Zuko had gone to investigate that scream, he was worried about his baby sister. What if she got hurt?

"Sokka they'll be back shortly-"Aang was about to continue when Katara and Zuko stumbled into the clearing panting.

"We have to leave!" Katara yelled as she took her hat off.

"My psycho sister is trying to kill us" Zuko informed them as though this was not that surprising, which for him it probably wasn't, considering who he was and all.

"What did you do?" Sokka yelled accusingly at the two teens

"We did nothing! We were attacked!" Katara knew that wasn't exactly how things carried out but what Sokka doesn't know won't hurt him.

"There are a lot of people out there who would love to capture you Aang, and Sokka, people are going to want you dead because you are travelling with the Avatar. Do you expect everyone to open up to you with open arms?" Zuko asked the warrior with a hint of irritation

"I know that, it's just… never mind" Sokka gave up and began to pack his sleeping bag.

Aang, who uses no sleeping bag stood up. "I'll go get Appa!" He yelled and ran to the Bison, whom they had hidden.

…OooO…

Zuko glanced over the side of the Bison's saddle, his stomach had decided that it did not like flying and now he immediately regretted looking over the side as the contents of his stomach threatened to come up. The Firebender held back a gag and tried to act as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. It seemed to work as Katara was busy patching up a tear in her Painted Lady costume and Aang and Sokka were in yet another intense game of paper scissors rock.

Azula had not picked up the chase yet but Zuko wasn't worried about having hurt her too bad, considering this is Azula. Zuko knew she'd be back and she certainly would not be alone. The Gaang had to be aware and ready for anything.

They would be ready for whatever life threw at them. And they would be more than happy to knock some Fire Nation monsters along the way.

Zuko figured the Fire Nation could use a little of their own medicine. Fight fire with fire. Zuko liked that idea.

He also knew that the Fire Nation had not seen the last of the Blue Spirit and Painted lady.

He was only just getting started.


End file.
